CENTER TWP — Win or go home.

Shane McIntire still wants to stay out and play.

The Center Township right-hander made sure his team moved on Tuesday night in a Butler County Area Baseball League Tournament play-in game. He struck out 11 and tossed a four-hitter as CT eliminated East Butler, 12-2, in five innings.

“In any big game like this, I'm giving the ball to my best pitcger and that's Shane McIntire,” CT coach Jeff Lineman said. “He was outstanding.”

McIntire escaped a potentially rough top of the first inning as Clay Collins greeted him with a single to right and Cody Schnur lined the ball hard to right field — but right at right fielder Baden Davenport.

McIntire struck out the next four hitters he faced and helped his team build a 5-0 lead in the first two innings.

“I'm usually pretty calm and cool on the mound,” McIntire said. “I have a lot of confidence in myself out there.

“My fastball was working and my curve was going at the hitter, then breaking over the plate.”

Two singles and a walk loaded the bases for CT in the bottom of the first. McIntire hit a grounder to second that was muffed, allowing Trevor Gahagan to score behind Brody Lineman.

Logan Donnel grounded out to second, plating Jerome Oliver with the third run of the inning.

McIntire drilled a two-out, two-run single in the second to extend the lead to five.

“It makes a big difference when you're pitching with a big lead early ... much more relaxed,” McIntire said.

East Butler scored its only two runs in the third as Schnur and Andrew Arbanas had RBI singles. But four errors, six walks and two hit batsmen did in the visitors.

Center Township scored five runs in the third inning, collecting just two hits, in breaking the game open.

“Lapses defensively hurt us this year,” East Butler coach Des Schnur said. “We didn't execute offensively or defensively. That's why we were the ninth-place team in the league.

“Their kid (McIntire) pitched very well. When someone's piling up strikeouts like that, you're not gonna do much.”

McIntire's 11 strikeouts marked a season-high.

“I usually pitch to contact,” McIntire said. “I'm not used to a strikeout total like that.”

Gahagan had three singles and scored three runs for Center Township, which advances to play top-seeded Butler Township in the first round of the BCABL double-elimination tournament Thursday.

Oliver scored three runs while McIntire and Donnel had three RBI each.

“We didn't commit an error tonight and that's encouraging, because shaky defense is the reason why we're 4-10 at this point,” Lineman said. “If we continue to be sharp on defense, I think we can give Butler Township a good game.”

Other first-round BCABL tourney games Thursday are Karns City at Freeport, Cranberry at Pine-Richland and Saxonburg at Kiski.

East Butler 002 00x x — 2 3 4

Center Twp. 325 02x x — 12 7 0

W: Shane McIntire 5IP (11K, 1BB). L: Cody Schnur 1IP (1K, 2BB).

East Butler (2-10): Clay Collins 2-1B, Cody Schnur 1B RBI, Andrew Arbanas 1B RBI

Center Township (4-10-1): Brody Lineman 1B, Trevor Gahagan 3-1B 3-R RBI, Jerome Oliver 1B RBI 3-R, Shane McIntire 1B 3-RBI, Logan Donnel 1B 3-RBI, Jake Cuny 2-R, Jason Grigoletti 2-R

Thursday: Center Township at Butler Township